Les sujets de mes oeuvres sont lis l'origine et l'identit de choses. Le temps, l'espace, les volumes, les mythes et symboles qui mettent en lumire notre existence quotidienne et transcendente.
Les diffrentes civilisations qui nous permettent de penser et resentir notre hritage spirituel et culturel. La relation intime et fconde entre figuration et abstraction."

Alberto Von Fach.

The themes in my work are connected to the origin and identity of things: time, space, volume, myths and symbols that bring to light our every-day and transcendent existence; diverse civilizations that allow us to think and feel our spiritual and cultural heritage; and the intimate and fertile relation between the figurative and the abstract.

Alberto Von Fach

POETRY OF MATERIAL

An Inspired Artist

Whether shaping wood, stone or Carrara marble, passion inhabits this sculptor, completely. An intense dialogue with his materials engenders a rich, authentic production, nurtured by the emotions and dreams of Alberto Von Fach. An encounter with the artist leaves one touched by the intimacy and respect he shows the material, whether hard or fragile, that he must win over, swaying it without brutality to his creative desire.

A native of Chile, Von Fach moved to Paris in 1980 but often returns home to seek inspiration, to rediscover his early sensations, or to search for ancestral materials, such as the magnificent wood of Alerce, a 4000 year-old tree.

His creative desire begins in childhood; attracted by painting and sculpture, he opts for the enthralling joust with living materials. And this marks the beginning of a personal journey. In Paris, he acquires his artistic knowledge by frequenting artists and their works. Patiently, he sets forth to discover the uncertain dialogue that allows the sculptor to imprint his reflections. At first, believing the material to be docile, he attempts to impose his will but he rapidly discovers the appropriate balance, and thus his style, between abstraction and synthetic figuration.

And so, he gouges and grazes, alternating smooth and worked surfaces in dynamic rhythms, vehicles of human sentiment. Wood, marble, and stone acquire life and corporality in absolute existence. Yet they retain their original strength, as materials have history. At times he bestows them a second life, as with burnt wood of Alerce, brutalized by man; Von Fach reclaims it, often from water, works it with love, and moulds it into a superb masterpiece where only the essential is revealed in complex simplicity and in the momentum of the form. He leaves in each support something of its original existence, voluntarily free. He thus delivers his reflections for our meditation in his deeply pondered sculptures. With no concern for fashion and removed from all convention, he reveals a profound devotion that allows his most secret thoughts and inner light to emerge. He lives his work as the mystery of creation, taking a unique path upon which past and present converge.

When he creates a face, he brings forth only essential traits, working the material into expression without details, as in the moving Obsidian Head (Tte dobsidienne) where presence and simplicity unite. Here as well are harmonious curves, suggesting bodies and tender couples.

Daphne, Socrates, myths and philosophers inspire him; they symbolize life and its trajectory, along with love, among others, and all the questions that forever haunt humankind. Mineral and vegetable preside this rigorous creation, at times gestural, yet controlled, evoking tenderness or strength, with emotion always just below the surface.

A sculptor of sentience, he expresses a deep devotion that transcends silent material. His creations, animated by an internal flame, are accomplished with fullness.

Nicole LAMOTHE
Art critic